A Cousin's Compassion
by Crymson Pahoyhoy
Summary: After losing his mother Demyx has to go live with his cousin Seifer.


Disclaimed

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**A Cousin's Compassion**

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"I really appreciate you doing this for me, Basch," Edward's sullen voice said, a complete change from the normally musical tones that it was.

"Anna's death has affected us all. This is the least I can do to help," Basch said, trying to school his emotions so that the thought of his sister's recent death would not show through for the sake of the two young boys in the room.

Nodding, Edward knelt down to look his young son in the face. So much like Anna's… "Demyx, this doesn't mean that I don't love you. Daddy just needs some time to think right now." The blond man could barely hold his own tears in as he wrapped his arms around his son, giving him a tight hug. Nodding, the small boy returned the hug with all of his strength, allowing for a few tears to slide down his flushed cheeks.

"Seifer," Basch said, looking at his own son, glad that the boy couldn't remember the death of his own mother, Arylon, that resulted in his birth. "Why don't you show Demyx to the bedroom while I talk to Uncle Edward."

The older boy let out a loud, over exaggerated sigh, "If I have to."

Basch rolled his eyes at his son, "Please show a little compassion," He said under his breath, "This is hard on everyone."

Humphing, Seifer then walked over to his younger cousin. "Come on. I'll show you to my room."

Edward placed a hand on Demyx's back, pushing him forward towards the older boy, "Its alright, Demy. Seifer will take care of you, won't you Seifer?"

Looking over at his Uncle, Seifer rolled his eyes, "Sure, whatever you say, Uncle Edward."

Wiping the back of his hand along his nose, Demyx nodded before reaching out to grab the hem of his cousin's shirt.

"Eww! That hand has your snot on it! Don't touch me with that one!" Seifer exclaimed with a sneer. At the startled look on his cousin's face, Seifer let out a huff of air, before reaching down and grabbing hold of Demyx's other hand. "Come on, lets go."

Demyx allowed himself a short moment to look back at his father, wondering why he had to go away to make his Daddy feel better.

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Growling to himself, Seifer stormed into the kitchen. The last couple of weeks had been so frustrating. No matter what he did, nothing would make his cousin speak. He had tried everything from being nice, bribing with candy, to being downright mean, but nothing ever drew a response from the seemingly emotionless boy. It was so annoying.

There at the kitchen table sat the annoyance himself. Demyx was eating a toaster waffle that looked like it hadn't even been warmed up. Gross. "Did you even bother to toast that thing today?" Seifer rolled his eyes as he grabbed a pop-tart out of the cupboard, popping it into the toaster. When he saw Demyx shake his head no, the older blond rolled his eyes, "You're so freaking weird sometimes."

Demyx just shrugged, not looking up from his still frozen breakfast.

As his pastries cooked, Seifer went over to the basket of clean clothes that sat next to the patio doors. "Where is my favorite shirt?" Seifer grumbled, searching through the clothes. Eventually he found the shirt he was looking for and didn't hesitate when pulling it on over his head. As he did, Seifer heard an odd noise coming from the kitchen table.

Demyx was laughing

"What the heck is so funny there?" Seifer snarled, slightly amazed that the sound was coming from his formerly silent cousin.

Covering his mouth with his hand, Demyx pointed to Seifer's stomach, "Your shirt."

Looking down, Seifer saw red when he finally noticed that his shirt no longer covered below his bellybutton, leaving his stomach almost fully exposed. "Well, shit," he growled, "Dad! You shrunk the laundry again!"

Demyx just continued to laugh lightly at his cousin's misfortune as he went on eating his frozen waffle. The anger began to drain slowly from Seifer' face as he let out a small chuckle of his own, so the little brat actually had emotions.

"Shut up, bubble brain," Seifer said, trying to hide his smirk. "Just eat your frozen waffles."

"Frozen waffles are the food of the gods!" A grinning Demyx proclaimed.

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"Aw, poor widdle Demy. Nobody wanted you."

"All your family just wanted to get rid of you."

"Demy has no family!"

The sound of his cousin's name caused Seifer to stop, motioning his friends to continue down the hall without him. Rounding the corner, the blond saw his cousin standing at his locker, putting books in there, two of the notorious school bullies standing over him with sadistic grins on their smug ugly faces.

"Hey. What do you douche bags thing you're doing?" Seifer growled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We're just having a bit of fun," Biggs smirked.

"Yeah!" Wedge agreed, "It's not like you've never picked on him before."

Seifer rolled his green eyes at the two idiots. "One: he's my fucking cousin, you morons. If any has earned the right to pick on him, it's me."

"What are you going to do about it, asshole? Tell Demy's parents? Oh, wait. He doesn't have any," Biggs said with a malicious smirk.

Before he knew what was happening, Demyx watched as Seifer's fist connected with the side of the lead bullies face, causing the kid to collapse to the floor, out like a light.

"Miss Finster, Miss Finster! Seifer's fighting again!" Wedge exclaimed, running off to find a teacher.

Demyx just smiled as he looked down at the unconscious bully, then over to his cousin who was shaking out his hand, "You know, Seif, they weren't bothering me. And you know what your dad said would happen if you were caught fighting at school again."

Seifer just shrugged, "That wasn't a fight. First off, he didn't exactly put up much of a fight. Secondly, I was just trying to prove a point, Bubble Brain."

Demyx just laughed, "And what point was that exactly?"

Seifer just made a non descript noise before turning and walking away to follow the path that his friends had gone earlier, leaving a still laughing Demyx there with a still out cold bully.

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"What the hell is this shit suppose to be anyway? There is no way that this shit is fit for human consumption," Seifer growled as he lifted his fork, allowing the puce colored gruel to slide off of the utensil, causing his cousin to laugh.

The crashing of a tray slamming down on the table next to them caused both blonds to look over, only to see the school's notorious redheaded pyro inviting himself down at their table.

"Seriously, right? I swear I heard it burp at me! I think they must have fed it the edible stuff first!" Axel grinned a shit eating grin as he complained and wiggled his way between the two blonds.

"What the fuck are you doing here, you flaming pyro?" sneered Seifer.

"Meh, all my friends are in the other lunch period. So, I've deemed you two cool enough to be my new lunch posse. Feel special." The wide smirk never left Axel's lips.

"Oh, the joy," Seifer said in a deadpan voice, "Just what I needed, another seventh grade annoyance hanging off of me. Who could ask for anything more?"

"Aw, Seifer, I didn't know you cared so much," Demyx grinned happily despite knowing that the comment was said in sarcasm.

"Shut up, Bubble Brain," Seifer growled, turning to Axel with a glare.

"So, who exactly are you?" Demyx questioned the redhead.

"I'm Axel, A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" he grinned, tapping the side of his head.

"Axel. Axel. I think I've heard of you before," Demyx then looked over at his cousin for answers.

"This is the moron who tried to light the grass on the soccer field on fire last year," Seifer said, rolling his eyes.

"That was you?" Demyx said, his eyes going wide with admiration, "That was so cool! You are like my hero!"

Axel just leaned back in his chair with a wide grin on his face. It was so nice to have fans.

"Yeah, except the douche bag tried to do it in the middle of a thunderstorm," Seifer scoffed.

"Hey, in my defense, it wasn't raining when I started my crusade. The gods just hate me," Axel pouted.

"Yeah, well, they aren't the only ones either," growled Seifer.

"Hey, I like you, Axel!" Demyx smiled, "Next time though, maybe you should try filling the pool with clear Jello!"

A huge grin spread on Axel's face once more, "I like the way you think, Kid. I think that this is going to be the start of a be-ut-i-ful friendship. But tell me, is Jello flammable?" Axel said, slinging his arm around Demyx's shoulder.

Seifer just groaned, "Now I don't only have to put up with the Bubble Brain, but I have to deal with the flaming douche bag too? Whatever. I am out of here." Picking up his tray, Seifer then stalked over to a table where he could eat in peace.

"Bye, Seifer!" Demyx grinned, waving wildly. "See you at home!" the blond just smiled wider as he saw his cousin flip him the bird. Turning back to his new friend, Demyx said, "I think he likes you."

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Walking into the kitchen, Seifer licked his lips at the thought of the nice cold glass of fruit punch that was waiting for him in the fridge. As he opened the cupboard to get a glass, the blond was surprised to hear his cousin's voice behind him. However, he was more surprised at how quiet and subdued Demyx's words were. Grabbing a second glass at the last second, Seifer then got the juice out and filled both glasses with the bright red liquid before sitting down at the table next to his cousin, waiting for him to finish his phone call.

"Yeah sure, Dad. I miss you too. Alright. I'll let you think about it. Yup. You too. Love you too, Dad. Bye," Demyx then hung up the phone, letting out a large and uncharacteristic sigh.

"Uncle Edward again?" Seifer questioned, pushing one of the juice glasses towards his cousin.

Demyx just nodded, the familiar smile that Seifer had come to know over the past five years nowhere to be found on his cousin's face. This happened every time that Demyx talked to his father, it was almost like he reverted back into that emotionless boy he had become after his mother's death again. That was not something that Seifer was going to put up with again. It had been so annoying.

"So, what's his excuse this time?" Seifer took a large drink of his juice as he waited for Demyx to answer.

"He still thinks he needs more time…" Demyx trail off.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I don't know, Seifer. I mean, I love my Dad. I kind of need him, but I want to give him the time and space that he needs. But it has been five years. How much longer does he need?" the frustration in Demyx's voice was apparent.

Seifer just sighed, running a hand back through his blond hair, "Well, what do _you_want, Demyx?"

Demyx paused, giving the statement some thought. "I want to be a family again. Not that I don't love living here with you and Uncle Basch, but he is my dad after all."

"So, what did you ask him this time?"

"I asked when I could move back in with him."

"Then why don't you stop being such a pussy and just tell him that you're moving back in with him," Seifer growled sick of dealing with a mopey Demyx.

"Huh?" Demyx was surprised at his cousin's outburst.

"Listen, your father is a fucking coward. He's not going to make a decision unless you make it for him. Just tell him that he is your father and its fucking time he took responsibility."

Demyx was taken a back by his cousin's words. "Do you really think that he would listen to me?"

"You're his son. If anyone can get through that thick skull, it would be you."

"You think so?"

Standing up with juice in hand, Seifer walked over and stood behind Demyx's chair. Placing his free hand on top of his cousin's styled blond locks, Seifer rubbed them affectionately, "You never know until you try, Bubble Brain."

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So I've noticed you can tell who does the A.N. when we post these. If it is ridiculously long and over flowing with happy I love you's and thank you's Crym has written it and if it's pretty short and straight forward it's Pahoyhoy...wierd.

Anywho hope you liked a view into Demyx's lifein our world (Seifer is such a good 'big brother' type).

If you like this story please check out some of our other stories from our Family Tree Universe in our archives :) And as always, if you would like to see where the pairings and family lines came from please go view our deviant art page, http :/ crymsonpahoyhoy . deviantart . com /, minus all of the spaces ;) The deviations are called FF KH Family Tree.

P.S. Oh please, oh please, oh please review! It will make us want to write more if you like it :D


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